Rina Hill of Australia has just won the final leg of the 2006 BG Triathlon World Cup on a tough day in New Plymouth, New Zealand.
Hills time of 2:03:18 was only 6 seconds faster then Anja Dittmer of Germany who was able to finish in second place. Rounding out the podium only a few steps behind was Laura Bennett of the United States.

I havent had a win in seems like a decade, said the thirty-seven year old mother of two, who has only raced three world cups in the past two years. Every time I make a comeback I think, Well how competitive am I going to be. To come back and win is unbelievable.

Hill has not been on top of the world cup podium since 2003, where she won the New York world cup. Since then she has only one second place in Edmonton, Canada in 2004.

Dittmer and Bennett battled in a sprint finish for the silver medal and valuable points as the close of the season brings with it a US$250,000 bonus pool for the final world cup standings. Both Dittmer and Bennett moved up in the year-end rankings with Dittmer finishing third and Bennett fourth.

Anja and I had a little bet on the sprint finish, stated Bennett, who grabbed her fourth bronze medal of the year. She absolutely smoked me.

I will give her [Laura] a drink tonight because I won, responded Dittmer. I started to laugh just before the finish when I pulled ahead.

Forty-six women from sixteen countries entered the Pacific Ocean this morning in heavy winds, which would plague the athletes all day, to start the fifteenth installment of the newly renamed 2006 BG Triathlon World Cup series. The chilly 16 degree water temperature would mean wetsuits allowed over the opening 1-lap, 1,500 metre swim. Despite the advantage of the wetsuits, choppy conditions broke the women into multiple distinct groups heading into the first transition.

When I woke up this morning I thought, This is going to be a tough day because of the wind, rain and cold, commented Hill. Triathlon is a tough sport.

Annabel Luxford (AUS) and Sarah Haskins (USA) led out of the first transition and opened up a quick 15 second gap between themselves and the first chase group. Although growing at first, the gap was erased by the chase group that included Hill, Dittmer, Bennett, Emma Moffatt (AUS), Andrea Hewitt (NZL) and Ainhoa Murua (ESP).

After swallowing the two leaders the lead group put the hammer down to pull away from the chasers. Top contenders Samantha Warriner (NZL), Lauren Groves (CAN) and Andrea Whitcombe (GBR) were stuck in the chase pack and were out of contention heading into second transition over two minutes down.

Out onto the four-lap, 10 kilometre run course, it was Hill, Dittmer, Bennett and Moffatt who immediately pulled away from the rest of the group. By the 5 kilometre mark Moffatt had dropped off and it was down to three. Hill led the entire run leg and despite thoughts that she would tire out pulled away with 2 kilometres to go and easily took the win.

I felt very good on the run, commented Hill on her decision to stay in front. I was listening to the other girls breathing and thought that I would test them a little. They didnt respond.

Moffatt was able to hang on to fourth position while Luxford was able to take fifth, finishing her first world cup since her early season injury.